Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Senator's concerns in this matter. There is no definition of what constitutes "as low as reasonably practicable", ALARP, set out in either domestic or international legislation. The concept has been considered by the Court of Appeal in the UK and by the courts in Ireland. The Judiciary has found that for a risk to be determined as ALARP, it must be possible to demonstrate that the cost involved in reducing the risk further would be grossly disproportionate to the benefit gained. The concept of reducing a risk to as low as is reasonably practicable is best practice internationally and the concept is reflected in the offshore safety directive.

Providing guidance on what constitutes ALARP is a matter for the Commission for Energy regulation under the Petroleum (Exploration and Extraction) Safety Act 2010. That Act places an obligation on the CER to, among other things, establish and implement a risk-based petroleum safety framework which includes standards and a system for assessing safety performance. In 2013, the commission published a document entitled ALARP Guidance, the purpose of which is to provide detailed guidance to petroleum developers on the CER's requirements concerning the processes that must be used to determine whether or not a risk is ALARP. It is the responsibility of the petroleum developer to ensure the cumulative risk from its activities is reduced to a level that is ALARP and to demonstrate this through its safety case. The CER will assess whether that demonstration is adequate given the full array of information provided and having regard to the requirements of the 2010 Act and the safety case guidelines.

The ALARP demonstration forms a central part of the safety case submitted by the petroleum developer under the framework. The ALARP guidance is intended to reflect best international practice in this field. In preparing the guidance document, the CER drew on guidance issued by statutory bodies regulating safety in the petroleum exploration and extraction industries internationally, particularly those in the UK and Australia. The commission may amend the guidance document from time to time to take account of changes in national or international practices. It is important that the concept of ALARP be kept under review and modified periodically to reflect developing practices.

Given that the CER has an existing statutory obligation to provide guidance and has already acted in this regard, I do not propose to accept the amendment.